For this week's Art City Looks, Paul Baker Prindle talks about what is probably my own favorite work of art at the Milwaukeee Art Museum. I love his description and enjoyed shooting the work of art, framing it so you'd be able to get a sense of it. | Nov. 9, 2012»Read Full Blog Post(2)

Billy Gardell was in Milwaukee when he got the call that changed his life: a pilot he starred in for CBS, "Mike & Molly," was picked up to go to series.

The hit sitcom has given Gardell's career a big boost, and helped propel his co-star, Melissa McCarthy (of "Bridesmaids," "Identity Thief" and "The Heat") to the top of the comedy A-list. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Article

There are a few new twists to this year's Wisconsin State Fair, but don't worry: The fan-favorite traditions aren't going anywhere. (Yes, there will be cream puffs.)

■This year, the fair's Racing Animal Arena will host both Saz's Racing Pigs and the Great American Duck Race. Alternating pig and duck races happen every day, every hour Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Article(1)

Even those on a tight budget can enjoy one of the best parts of State Fair: the food. Here are some tips for spending less while eating more.

Wisconsin Products Pavilion: Local food product marketing boards set up booths in the Wisconsin Products Pavilion and offer some of the higher quality foods at prices that are often lower than the commercial food vendors on the streets. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Article

When some people want to dis the Summerfest lineup, they liken it to Wisconsin State Fair. True, the headliners for the cream puff-powered soiree aren't always on the cutting edge (The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, anyone?). But State Fair is Wisconsin's most diverse entertainment offering, and that carries over to the music.

Here are eight top State Fair concert picks, ranging from touring headliners to local favorites. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Article(1)

The State Fair offers many admission discounts and deals. Here are a few:

Aug. 1: Fairgoers who bring at least two nonperishable food items or make a cash donation to the Hunger Task Force between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at designated locations outside the fair's admission gates will receive a voucher redeemable at the ticket window for a $2 admission that day only. The promotion ends at 4 p.m. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Article

When Tom Cruise squeezed himself into leather jeans, tattooed his chest, wore hair down to his shoulders and battled rock-glam groupies as Stacee Jaxx in the 2012 movie "Rock of Ages," he demanded a sidekick.

In an institutional room in California, the aptly named Luz ("light") tries to make sense of the trauma and tragedy that has befallen her family. She has only a journal, the presumed attention of You, the God or higher power she addresses, and a deck of Lotería cards.

In "Lotería: A Novel," debut novelist Mario Alberto Zambrano makes the cards, used in a Mexican game as the visual counterpart of the numbers in bingo, serve as writing prompts. They're not instruments of divination like tarot cards, but, like the tarot deck, the simple, traditional design of the Lotería cards gives them a touch of the archetypal. (Large images of the cards begin each of his novel's short chapters.) | July 26, 2013»Read Full Article

Published in 1818, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" imagined the possibility of science re-animating dead matter, and the themes in her masterpiece have been as enduring as the Hollywood images of a block-headed, neck-bolted monster. What are the moral responsibilities of our scientific capabilities? Just because we can, should we?

Like Shelley's novel, Stephen P. Kiernan's intriguing debut, "The Curiosity," begins in the Arctic, where scientist Kate Philo leads an expedition to find the perfect "hard-ice" from which to re-animate single-cell life forms. The funding for the expedition comes from Erastus Carthage, a monomaniacal media-savvy genius who appoints Daniel Dixon, a lecherous mediocre journalist, to document the project. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Article

Wisconsin Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) has sent a letter to Time Warner Cable asking that it lower the bills of customers affected by the blackout of three stations in the retransmission dispute with Journal Broadcast Group.

"My intention is not to take sides but rather to look out for my constituents in this dispute," Ellis wrote. "It is clear your customers are no longer receiving the service they are paying for" and he urges Time Warner to "reduce their bills appropriately." He notes that Green Bay Packers preseason games are fast approaching and could be blacked out because of the dispute. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(96)

The summer cavalcade of country music stars hitting the state's county fairs continues this weekend in Southeastern Wisconsin with Darius Rucker visiting the Washington County Fair in West Bend tonight and Sawyer Brown and Chris Cagle playing the grandstand at the Racine County Fair in Union Grove Saturday night.

It's another great opportunity for area fans to catch some of the genre's big stars and legends at a pretty affordable price. For Rucker's Washington County show, fair attendees can watch for free, or add on VIP access for $25. In Racine, the Sawyer Brown and Cagle double bill costs just $5 above fair admission for a grandstand seat and $10 for fans who want to sit up close on the track in front of the stage. | July 26, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Justin Vernon, the Eau Claire native pictured here performing with Bon Iver at the Riverside Theater in 2011, is performing in Milwaukee with bands the Shouting Matches and Volcano Choir in August and Sept. Photo by Benny Sieu for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.| July 26, 2013»Read Full Blog Post